Remember What Happens
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Orphaned Mariah just broke up with her super-popular boyfriend, then woke up in the "Shrek" universe. It's not as if she liked the films, but now she's here, will she take her new chance at life - and maybe even love?
1. Chapter 1: Movie Marathon

**OK, I know I've got another fanfiction going on, but I thought of this, and I decided, OK, I'll do an OC like this. I've never written an OC-who-knows-exactly-what's-going-on fic before, so I thought I'd give it a go (Also, my other story is basically written, and just needs editing before it goes on here).**

**Basic summary: Mariah Stewart just broke up with her boyfriend, and now she's fallen into the world of her little sister's favourite movies, and she's at a boarding school. Will she get tangled up in this world?**

**Please review and enjoy!**

I closed the door, feeling depressed. Justin had broken up with me, and I didn't even understand why. He was the most popular boy in school, and yet he'd been a total a**. Okay, so the lesson in this was clear as glass: Date a loser boy – they don't let you down. Right. Sorry, but I don't like loser guys. I like cool boys. It's just my thing.

I was not in the mood to do anything this Friday, so it was a good thing the school was light on homework, even in Year 11. Now if I could just get to my room without being caught-

"Mariah!" _Damn it. _"You didn't forget about your sister's birthday movie marathon and sleepover tonight, did you?"

I forced a smile, lying "No, Mom. I didn't forget. I guess I better go put on the costume...if I really have to join her and her friends..." I said hopefully. My little sister Kat gets on my nerves. She's 9, but she is really cute. It's her tenth birthday tomorrow, and so she invited five of her friends over to a movie marathon. She says I have to come too, and everyone is dressing up as a character. I chose the easiest thing I could think of.

Mom just shook her head at me. "Mariah, Kat wants you to be there."

"Okay, okay." I sighed, and went to my room to find where I put my costume. Orange jeans, a red T-shirt, a black hat with a yellow feather attached, my favourite belt, and boots that nearly covered my knees.

My mom and little sister are not my real ones. I'm fostered, and have been since last year. I've never really fitted in, though. I sometimes wish I was just somewhere else. Anywhere else.

OK, the movie marathon happened to be the _Shrek _saga (my sister is young). I just thought that the easiest character to dress up as was Puss In Boots.

"But he's a guy!" Kat had argued.

"Do you want me to copy you?" I'd said. "I know you're going to dress up as Fiona."

Kat had sighed and said "Okay, but you have to say something as the character to get in, just like everyone else."

I walked into the living room.

"Password, please!" Kat called out in her best robotic voice.

I sighed and put on a Spanish accent as I said the shortest line I could think of: "I hate Mondays."

It was only half an hour until the other five kids would be arriving. Kat had already painted her face green, plaited her hair, and put on a green dress.

The other five came as other characters, mostly. There was one Fiona, but there was also two people dressed as Puss, one as the Fairy Godmother, and another had even dressed as Gingy, the gingerbread man!

They all had to give their lines. So we had 'not the gumdrop buttons', 'man, that was annoying', 'happiness is just a teardrop away', 'fear me if you dare'...

And the last girl (a kid called May) said "You do not have to push me away any more." We all stared at her. "It's in the _Puss In Boots _movie!" she said. "We aren't watching that? I would've come as Kitty Softpaws, but I didn't have enough black clothes."

None of us objected, and Kat simply slid the DVD of the first movie into the player. Kat hadn't been born when it first came out, but she saw it anyway.

I learnt one thing from the movie: little kids can't sing. They all sang along with the "Welcome to Duloc" song and "Hallelujah" during that sequence. None of them could sing in tune.

The second movie was a little more interesting. We had pizza and popcorn while watching, and while the girls still sang along with the opening song and the closing song, I hummed the Fairy Godmother's song to myself, along with the girl dressed up as her – Kylie, I remembered.

All the girls squealed when Puss In Boots made his first appearance, and I rolled my eyes. He seemed to be a cat pin-up for all little girls, and I didn't really get it. He seemed like a ladies' cat, but still.

Then we got onto the duds. The fourth movie wasn't too bad, but no one liked the third movie as much as any of the others.

And when it got to the credits of that one, I remembered the actor playing Arthur (or as he was called, Artie) was called Justin Timberlake. Why Justin? I didn't cry, but it still hurt.

It was past eleven by the time the last movie ended, but the girls still insisted on doing one more thing, and that was to quiz each other. Would you believe Kat's friend Delia had brought along a quiz book?

I just wanted to run back to my room and pull the covers over my head, but I stuck it out, and went to sleep when the girls did.

I woke up at three o'clock, but I didn't know what had woken me up. I looked around, and then realized that this could well be a nightmare.

"If someone's planning to kill me, they might as well come out now." I announced to the empty room. I pinched myself, realizing I really was awake. Then my gaze fixed on the TV. It seemed to still be on.

"Okay, who left the TV on?" Again, I addressed the room. Kat and one of her silly friends sighed a bit, but they continued to sleep. And then, I tried to turn off the TV, but the minute I touched the screen, I felt a crackle of electricity.

For a moment, I thought I was going to die, and closed my eyes in terror. Then, I tumbled into another bed.

A bottom bunk in a dormitory of six bunks, holding eleven other girls that were fifteen or sixteen like me.

I looked around, then I realized there were twelve dresses. Blue dresses, with long-sleeved tops. Like the ones the girls from the high school wore in..._Shrek The Third._

Okay, so I decided it was a dream after all. Wasn't it?

**I hope you like Mariah. She's basically supposed to be your average stroppy teenager who just broke up with her super-popular boyfriend. Please review, and tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2: School

**OK, here's the next chapter.**

Well, I did believe it was some kind of dream at first. Then I thought it was a delusion. Finally, I decided to just pretend it was real until I figured out what was going on.

That morning, the girls in my dorm all questioned me. "So you're the new girl." one of the girls said. She was very pretty, with long blonde hair which she straightened each day. "What's your name? What grade are you in?"

"My name's Mariah Stewart." I answered quietly. "I'm a sophomore."

"Oh." said the girl. "My name's Ophelia." She then gestured to a dark-haired girl next to her. "This is Janet."

I smiled nervously. "Hi."

The boarding school was interesting. Since this did seem to be based on the movie, I kept a lookout for a scrawny blonde kid, maybe about a year older than me, but I didn't really see anyone that looked anything like Arthur...or as he was known, Artie. Maybe it was because I kept out of the way of the conceited jousting team.

The school did seem to have a total popularity-contest thing. The boys were all weird. As well as the jousting team, there were a few other muscle-man boys that were just sickening. Some of them reminded me of Justin in looks, although he hadn't been as self-absorbed as all that...had he? I wasn't sure any more, since he dumped me for no reason, apart from that it might have been hurting his reputation, hanging out with an orphan girl.

There were also the drug addicts. If they weren't getting high, they were getting smashed, or just smoking. The nerds weren't much better. The computer geeks played chess all the time, since computers didn't exist in this timeline.

As for the girls...well, I didn't try to fit in with them. I was friendly, but not conformist. I just couldn't be bothered. In the end, the girls just started ignoring me. I was basically the invisible girl, doing everything I was supposed to, but not really being a person. I only talked when one of the staff wanted an answer from me.

It seemed to me that _Shrek _was set in a fairytale universe, but I realized that living it was more of a medieval-modern simulation than anything else. Student drivers learned to drive carriages with horses. Guys asked girls out, but only dated agonizingly platonically. Justin and I had gotten to second base after two weeks of dating, while most of the girls at this school weren't even there after two months. They'd barely kissed a boy.

Yes, I was around for months. In fact, I was around for seven months. Seven months of being Mariah, invisible girl in the sophomore class. Roll up, roll up, to see if you can spot the invisible girl. She won't bother trying to fit in, so she tries to keep out.

Okay, Ophelia wasn't too bad. She occasionally asked me to join her and her friends, and who was I to turn her down? But the really popular girls would just look at me and start to laugh. It was obvious Janet, Ophelia's best friend, didn't like me. The girl who had the bunk above mine, Lucia, looked at me in a weird way at times.

I began to doubt this was even part of any movie, but after ten months, I looked upon it as my reality. And to tell the truth, it wasn't any worse than my old reality. I never fitted in back there after my parents' death, and I didn't fit in here. Sure, my foster mom and little sister were a good family, but really, I never felt as if I had any affection for them. And I knew that if I had the chance to go back, I wouldn't. There was only one downside to going back. If I did, I would have to face all these kids who knew I was the girl who had been dumped by the most popular boy in school.

So as time went on, I decided the school was just a coincidence. That was until we had the assembly where the school had a lecture about "just say nay", which was something the drug addicts ignored. Then it came to the mascot competition.

Just as the Headmaster was about to announce the new mascot of Worcestershire (in case you didn't know, that was the school's name. Weird), the door burst open to reveal a recognizeable ogre, followed by a pretty small donkey, and a really small (in porportion) anthropomorphic cat. I knew who they were straight away. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss In Boots.

Everyone gasped.

"That's right!" Shrek announced. "I'm the new mascot, so let's really try and…beat the other guys at...whatever it is they're doing!"

I couldn't help giggling. It was obvious no one knew what to make of this, but the school band began playing anyway, and everyone clapped.

It was interesting that I hadn't noticed Arthur yet, if he was really here. But when I looked hard enough, I could just see a kid, skinny, and probably a bit taller than me.

Shrek snatched the bullhorn off the Head. "Now, where can I find Arthur Pendragon?"

The hall went quiet. Everyone pointed where I'd looked.

"Hey, wait-" called a voice that I recognized, the Justin Timberlake voice, coming out of a teenage boy with sandy hair who was suspended on the basketball hoop.

Everyone began to laugh and laugh. I didn't. I looked straight up at him, then pointed at the jousting team and pulled faces.

Lancelot, Mr I'm-the-best-at-jousting, was laughing so hard that it caught Donkey's attention. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" he snapped at Muscles Man.

"I didn't do it." Lancelot said. "They did." He pointed up to a couple of freshmen geeks that were cackling like idiots.

I decided to have some fun. "Junior abuse!" I called out. "Freshmen abusing juniors!" I knew for a fact that Artie was in the grade above me.

When everyone looked at me, I noticed the sneers. That's when I decided to take a chance, and become a character in this movie.

**I hope you liked this chapter. Mariah will begin to have a proper part in the movie in the next chapter. Please, start reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3: Shipwreck

**Some of my favourite jokes turn up around here, so I hope you like it as much as I do. Thanks for your reviews, kkman57 and Pricat (I liked the movie too, and especially Kitty, but they already had four movies to watch)!**

I watched as Shrek pulled Artie down. I didn't hear the words the teenage boy said, but I remembered they were "Please don't eat me."

"Eat him, eat him, eat him..." The whole room took up the chant, including the staff. I scowled and nudged Janet harshly, since she was the nearest. She scowled, but didn't stop chanting.

Shrek turned to his audience. "I'm not here to eat him!" he yelled. The students all groaned.

Then he gave Artie the news that he was going to be the new king of Far Far Away. Everyone gasped, including me (I didn't want to show the fact that I knew what Shrek was going to say).

Lancelot laughed and called out "Artie, a king? More like the Mayor of Loserville."

I tuned out until Artie began his speech of happiness about leaving and being a ruler, which I took as my cue to leave and hide on the ship. No doubt I'd get some flak for being a stowaway, but I was sure I'd be better off free in a fictional world than stuck in a fictional high school.

I didn't want to be found until it was too late to turn back, but then I wasn't sure when to show myself. The problem was solved when the ship lurched, and I tumbled out of my hiding place, unable to hold back a yelp of pain.

All four of the characters stared at me.

Artie was the first to speak. "Did you follow me on here?" He didn't seem angry, exactly. He didn't seem sure what to think.

I gave a nod. "Yes." I lied. "But I don't think you knew me. I was a sophomore? Oh yeah, and I was the invisible girl, practically, anyway." I scanned the faces of the other three. Then I said "Don't try to get me back to that school. I didn't belong there. I promise that the minute we get to Far Far Away I'll leave you alone and go do my own thing."

There was a pause, then the whole group seemed to let it go. Donkey actually grinned at me and asked my name. Okay, I won't deny that I was expecting Donkey to be friendly to a complete stranger.

"I'm Mariah." I told him. "I'm assuming you're Donkey?"

"How did you know my name?"

I smiled mysteriously, but didn't answer. After all, it didn't take a genius. Even if you hadn't seen the movies, you'd know it.

I walked over to Artie, who was looking pretty dazzled, even now. "So, what does it feel like to have your status upped from loser to king?" I asked out of the blue.

"It's just...it feels kind of scary and exciting at the same time." Artie said. "I knew that I had a cousin or something that was a direct heir, but it's not like that type of thing ever happens to me."

"You looking forward to it?" I asked.

"What isn't there to look forward to?" Artie pointed out.

I wondered why he hadn't said the lines from the movie yet. It always looked like Worcestershire was only metres away when he had that conversation with the other characters which made him try to steer the ship back. But we weren't in sight of land any more, and no one had said a word I remembered.

But of course, it was inevitable. The next day, Artie was dreaming of the good things about being king, and that was around when the movie lines came in. "Parties... ..princesses...castles...princesses..." Truth be told, I was getting sick of the princesses thing. I don't know why, because it wasn't jealousy, not in the least. Maybe it was just because I still hated the movie.

Shrek encouraged him on the view that being king would be fun. But did the sidekicks help? No, of course not!

One problem I'd always had with this movie was the way Puss had acted in this scene. On the whole, he was a pretty intelligent and capable character, but in this, he was either really dense, or just trying to wind everyone up. I very much hoped it was the latter.

Shrek was making signs to both the sidekicks to shut up once they got to the bit about the subjects getting ill. He at last forced a laugh and said to Puss in a forced happy manner "You are one funny kitty cat."

"What did I say?"

I had to step in. "You told Artie he was screwed, basically. Are you really that stupid, or did you deliberately-" I never got to finish. The boat was starting to lurch to one side, and I screamed, louder than anyone else that was on board. _Oops, forgot that part._

"Artie, what are you doing?" Shrek demanded, running over to the teenager that was now steering.

"What does it look like?" Artie answered angrily as Shrek managed to take control of the wheel. They both continued to argue, and my attempts to intervene didn't help.

"Guys...stop...I can't stand...go to..." I was getting too seasick to say anything convincingly.

By the time the wheel had broken, things went smoothly, but I braced myself for the impact of the rocks. I ended up clinging to the thing nearest to me, which happened to be Puss.

"Sorry," I whispered, "But I'm just getting scared, and this was your fault, anyway."

"Just try to keep me out of the water, senorita." he answered, just before the impact came and the ship broke.

I did manage to keep Puss above water, for the most part.

The minute I was out, shivering in my soaked uniform, I stormed up to Artie. "Is today the day everyone starts acting stupid?" I demanded. "First Puss exaggerates the bad points of being king, and then you try to steer the ship back. Seriously, what do you think is gonna happen to Far Far Away?"

Artie glared back at me, too angry to be as shy as normal. "Better than if I was ruling!" he shot back.

I calmed down then. "Look, Artie." I said quietly. "I'm sorry. I kind of get it. But don't blame Shrek, because he's actually feeling the same way, overwhelmed with responsibilities."

Artie scoffed and began to walk off when he heard Shrek yelling at him.

"Where are you going?" Shrek yelled after him.

"Far far away – from _you!"_ Artie yelled back. "No one try to follow me, especially not you or Mariah!"

"What did I do?" I screamed after him.

"You get back here, young man, and I mean it!"

"Uh, boss?" Puss spoke up. "I don't think he's coming back."

I was still mad at the sidekicks, so I began the telling off all over again, while Artie stormed away, and Shrek tried to work out how to persuade Artie to at least try being king.

Oh, the joys of a fairytale world, huh?

**Sorry about how much of the movie this skips, but I want to do some stuff with Mariah and Artie's relationship, and it needs to develop after the movie as well as before. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Island

**OK, continuing on. Enjoy! Thanks for reviewing, Pricat, and sorry it took so long.**

I didn't waste any more time after that. Even though Artie had specifically mentioned that I shouldn't follow him, I ran to keep up with him, anyway.  
He barely noticed me when I began to walk alongside him. He didn't even look up, and his fair hair was covering his eyes anyway. I didn't say a word to him, and if he did notice me, he didn't tell me to go away.

It didn't take long until I heard Shrek's heavy foot falls, and I just knew my face would be on fire soon. Using teenage slang when you're in your twenties or older just sounded wrong. When I glanced behind Shrek, I spotted Donkey and Puss looking at each other. I smiled at them and shrugged, letting them know the whole negative-about-being-king incident was out of my mind. After all, who could stay mad at those two sidekicks, of all animated characters? (I think Donkey's likeability is through the roof! And just don't get me started on Puss, cute face or not.)

The minute Shrek began to try to speak teenage language, I murmured stuff to myself, trying not to listen. My head only snapped up when Artie broke into a run right up to the house (Merlin's, if I remembered the movie), screaming "Somebody help! I've been kidnapped by a monster who's trying to relate to me!"

I turned to Shrek. "Maybe that wasn't the best tactic." I said. "He _is _a teenager. And teenagers get moody. I should know."

Shrek glanced around for a moment, then he said "Well, I'm past the times. Maybe that was a stupid thing to do."

"Maybe?" I teased. "Definitely. Don't talk like a teen. I think just leaving him alone and then trying to approach the subject would have worked." I smiled, though. Even if I hated the movie, I couldn't actually be mean. Blunt, yes, but I did have a conscience.

Even though I'd seen the movie, I jumped when Merlin's recording appeared, and was relieved when he came out and we got introduced.

"What we need are directions back to Far Far Away." Shrek said, as I stood by.

"What's with the 'we'?" Artie demanded. "Who said I was going with you?"

"I did! Cause there's a lot of people counting on you. So don't try and weasel out of it!" Shrek ordered.

"If it's such a great job, why don't _you _do it?" Artie demanded.

I knew Shrek was actually the other heir, but I didn't let on, knowing I would have to let the plot flow. I was wondering if I should step in.

"Understand this, kid, it's no more Mr Nice Guy from here on out!" Shrek snapped.

"Oh, so that was your Mr Nice Guy?"

"I know, and I'm gonna miss him."

Suddenly, I knew what I'd have to do. It was partly reverse psychology, partly the truth.

"I think you're right, Artie." I said sweetly. "You don't want to be king, you don't know anything about it, so you should just not start anything."

The boy wasn't stupid, though. He seemed to know what I was going to say. "You mean that I should go back? Seems weird, since you wanted me to go there twenty minutes ago." His blue eyes were suspicious.

I shrugged. "Well, you have two choices. Go rule Far Far Away like you seemed to be excited about an hour ago, or go back to high school and get picked on by the jousting team for being weak and having that crush on Gwin (who by the way, is about as nice as a murderess Lolita)."

"Well, when you say it that way..." Artie fixed his gaze on the ground, but I saw his eyes soften. "And by the way," he added, "I just think Gwin's pretty. But you're kind of pretty in a weird way." Then his head jerked up and his eyes were hard again. "But that does not mean being king will be any better than high school! And if you're so desperate not to have to go back, you're able to leave, so why don't you just go somewhere else!" He turned back to Shrek. "And why don't _you _go terrorize a village and leave me alone too?"

"Oh, is that some kind of crack about ogres?" Shrek snapped right back. I didn't bother answering verbally. I pointedly folded my arms and put on my most sickly-sweet smile – the type I gave Kat when she was being annoying, or the type I would give my older siblings when they conned me into doing their chores when they were still alive. It was the type that said "You can't hurt me or make me leave that way."

But at the same time, I was thinking about how Artie called me pretty. In a fairytale world like this, 'pretty' wasn't too innocent a word for a teenage boy to use for a girl, like it seemed to be in my world. I mean, hot was what Justin's friends would call me when he would talk about the relationship. But I didn't know what pretty would be in this world. I'm pale with blue eyes and brown hair with traces of red. It was, at that moment, drying and it was still in yesterday's braid. I couldn't think I was pretty at that time. So I had to wonder; did "pretty in a weird way" mean that he liked me in that way or did it just mean exactly what it said?

Finally, when Shrek again asked Merlin for directions, he refused to help unless we took the 'journey to the soul'.

I wasn't sure whether this would be good for me, or terrifying.

**Find out what Mariah sees in the next chapter. Now just review, PLEASE!**


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